News Stories
Annesdale-Snowden Neighborhood Association collects food and goods for FirstWorks
3/13/2012
Annesdale-Snowden Neighborhood Association collected food and goods for for FirstWorks, Inc. Submitted photo
FirstWorks Board Member Ian Randolph organized the neighborhood drive. Submitted photo
By Sandra Mathias, FirstWorks Board Member
The Annesdale-Snowden Neighborhood Association in Memphis hosted a "food and goods" drive in February to benefit the children and families of Firstworks, Inc.
FirstWorks is a faith-based academic after-school program for at-risk children and youth who live in zip codes surrounding Highland Heights UMC at the corner of Summer Avenue and Highland in Memphis.
Every year, Ian Randolph, a long-time FirstWorks Board member, contacts the residents of his neighborhood association by email and lets them know a "drive" is being planned.
The email lists the most urgent needs of the FirstWorks Food Pantry: non-perishable food and hygiene items.
On a Friday evening he leaves a plastic bag on the front porch of each of his neighbors’ homes -- with the list attached. Saturday morning, starting at 8 a.m., he drives by each home to pick up donations and deliver them to FirstWorks.
"The residents of the Annesdale-Snowden Neighborhood Association always look forward to this,” said Randolph. “We love to help FirstWorks. It gives us a chance to do something good as a neighborhood."
This is the fifth year the neighborhood association has contributed to the welfare of the families who enroll children in the FirstWorks program.
Learn more about FirstWorks at www.firstworks.org.